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The fringe impact
Where Luis Enrique is struggling, Zinedine Zidane is flying. Time and time again the French coach has been able to rotate and manoeuvre his starting XI to spread the load across several players, and with great success. As for the Blaugrana boss, he cannot buy a satisfactory line-up. Andre Gomes and Sergi Roberto are the chief suspects in terms of the side's lack of flair and yet neither are taken out the side by Luis Enrique.
The coach's attitude
Luis Enrique has never been chirpy with the media but recent weeks has seen his relationship with reporters fall off a cliff edge, stating how he never listens to them and working up a fuss on live television. Compare that to Zidane, where the ex-midfielder is bright and breezy with the press, making clear what he disagrees on but always in his natural, charismatic style.
European fallout
There's no doubt that Real got the easier draw in the Champions League and that was despite coming second in their group, and the consequences have been huge. Sweeping past Napoli in their first leg, the 3-1 win gave Zidane the impetus to reintroduce Gareth Bale for the win over Espanyol on the weekend. In great contrast, Barcelona were hammered by Paris Saint-Germain in the French capital and responded with a dour scrape past Leganes.
The contrasting fortunes of Messi and Ronaldo
Great rivals on and off the pitch, it seems that the respective clubs reliance on Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo is at opposite ends. The more the Azulgrana suffer, the more important their Argentine talisman is, leading the Pichichi race as he does. However, Madrid have managed to reduce Ronaldo's individual importance without dropping points.
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